In the process of shipping an item from one location to another, protective packaging material is often placed in the shipping container to fill any voids and/or to cushion the item during the shipping process. Some commonly used protective packaging materials are plastic foam peanuts and plastic bubble pack. While these conventional plastic materials seem to perform adequately as cushioning products, they are not without disadvantages. Perhaps the most serious drawback of plastic bubble wrap and plastic foam peanuts is their effect on our environment. Quite simply, these plastic packaging materials are not biodegradable, and therefore they cannot avoid further multiplying our planet's already critical waste disposal problems. The nonbiodegradability of these packaging materials has become increasingly important in light of many industries adopting more progressive policies in terms of environmental responsibility.
The foregoing and other disadvantages of conventional plastic packaging materials have made paper protective packaging material a popular alternative. Paper is biodegradable, recyclable and composed of a renewable resource, making it an environmentally responsible choice for conscientious shippers.
While paper in sheet form could possible be used as a protective packaging material, it is usually preferable to convert the sheets of paper into a relatively low density pad-like cushioning or dunnage product. This conversion may be accomplished by a cushioning conversion machine, such as that disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,889. The conversion machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,889 converts sheet-like stock material, such as paper in multi-ply form, into relatively low density pads. Specifically, the machine converts this stock material into a continuous unconnected strip having lateral pillow-like portions separated by a thin central band. This strip is connected as by coining along its central band to form a coined strip which is cut into sections, or pads, of a desired length. The stock material preferably consists of two or three superimposed webs or layers of biodegradable, recyclable and reusable thirty-pound Kraft paper rolled onto a hollow cylindrical tube. A typical thirty-inch wide roll of this three ply paper, which is approximately four hundred and fifty feet long, will weigh about 35 pounds (about 16 kg) and will provide cushioning equal to approximately four fifteen cubic inch bags of plastic foam peanuts while at the same time requiring less than one-thirtieth the storage is space. The stock material also may be supplied in larger rolls weighing, for example, 105 pounds (about 48 kg).
The multi-ply roll of sheet stock material heretofore has been supported at the upstream end of a conversion machine by means of a spindle in the form of an axle rod that passes through the core of the stock roll with its ends projecting therebeyond for cradled receipt in respective laterally spaced apart spindle supports of a stock roll holder. The spindle supports may be provided, for example, directly on the frame of the cushioning conversion machine or on a mobile cart as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,889.
A stock roll would typically be loaded by positioning a stock roll on the floor or on a stand near the cushioning conversion machine. The axle rod would then be inserted into the center hole in the plug at one end of the roll, through the core tube and then through the center hole in the plug at the opposite end of the roll. The stock roll could then be raised by grasping and lifting the ends of the axle rod that projected from opposite ends of the stock roll. The loading operation is completed by lowering the projecting ends of the axle rod onto the laterally spaced apart spindle supports that have recesses for cradles receipt and retention of the axle rod.
For some applications the machine may be disposed several feet above the floor, sometimes at or above head level, which makes loading a stock roll on the machine more difficult because of the greater height to which the stock roll must be lifted. Also, the machine may be positioned over a conveyor which may require the operator to reach over the conveyor when loading a stock roll on the machine. Also, in some installations, a person other than the machine operator may be designated to lift and load a stock roll on the machine. In these situations, delay may arise when such persons or attendant, is not at the machine to load a stock roll on the machine. Consequently, the operator of the machine must wait until such person returns to the machine and such delay may be of considerable length when the attendant is busy with another task, such as loading a stock roll on another machine or machines.
Accordingly, a need existed for a way of storing stock rolls for loading on a cushioning conversion machine when the machine is disposed more than a few feet above the floor, is disposed above a conveyor or other structure which requires an operator to reach over the structure when loading the stock roll on the machine, and/or when an attendant other than the machine operator is used to lift and load the stock rolls on the machine.